Lighter Carrot Cake

This gluten free carrot cake is made lighter with half the oil, sugar and eggs but just as much flavor! Topped with a homemade cream cheese glaze, this moist carrot is to die for!

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I love carrot cake! Its not typically the cake I, or most people, would name as their favorite, but a thick slice of moist cinnamony carrot cake topped with some cream cheese frosting definitely hits the spot.

This time of year I especially crave a slice of carrot. But since its packed full of calories I wanted to see if I could keep the tasty goodness, but cut a few of the calories, and make the cake a little bit better for you – I mean, it is full of carrots after all. 😉

I started with a carrot cake recipe from the Food Network and made a few mindful substitutions. I cut the amount of sugar used in half, but added some crushed pineapple to help with the sweetness levels. I used half brown sugar and half white sugar, because I love the flavor that brown sugar adds to baked goods. I also used half the amount of oil as called for in the original recipe, and substituted some of that with the help of my favorite low fat vanilla greek yogurt. Since I added the crushed pineapple for moisture, I took out some of the eggs too. And lastly, I used my favorite Gluten Free flour instead of all purpose flour.

I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour, which is a perfect substitute for all purpose flour in baked goods like cakes, cookies, brownies and more. I’ve used it before, and love how easily it can be used to replace all purpose flour without any flavor or texture differences.

It’s perfect for those with allergies to gluten, or celiac disease. The flour combines brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, potato starch and a touch of xanthan gum. (Make sure your baking powder is gluten free too, to keep your cake completely gluten free).

This cake is packed full of TWO packed cups of shredded carrots, to keep the cake nice and soft and moist throughout.

You can add chopped pecans or walnuts to the cake if desired, to give an ice texture change throughout the cake – but if you want to keep the cake nut free that’s totally okay too. You can even add raisins to your batter if you want, though I’ll take mine without please.

Now, in my opinion you can’t have carrot cake without the cream cheese frosting, though this cake is totally delicious on its own. Since the cake is a bundt cake, you’ll use less frosting than traditional carrot cakes (especially the double layered kind). To make the cream cheese frosting just a little lighter, I cut the butter down to only 2 tablespoons, I also used Neufchatel  cheese instead of traditional full fat cream cheese because its 1/3 less fat than traditional. I promise you won’t even miss the butter or regular cream cheese in this tasty frosting though.

Lighter Carrot Cake

Created By: Aimee

Servings 12 -14

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

This gluten free carrot cake is made lighter with half the oil, sugar and eggs but just as much flavor! Topped with a homemade cream cheese glaze, this moist carrot is to die for!

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

For the Carrot Cake:

• ▢ 1/2 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup white sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• ▢ 1/2 cup low fat vanilla greek yogurt
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
• ▢ 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour
• ▢ 1 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 1 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• ▢ 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• ▢ 1/2 tsp salt
• ▢ 2 cups grated carrots

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• ▢ 8 oz Neufchatel cheese (softened)
• ▢ 2 TBS butter
• ▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
• ▢ 1/2 tsp vanilla
• ▢ 2-3 TBS milk

Equipment

• Large Mixing Bowl

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine your brown sugar, sugar, oil, greek yogurt, eggs, and crushed pineapple in a large bowl.
• In another bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
• Add your flour mixture to your sugar mixture and stir together.
• Fold in the carrots and mix well.
• Pour the batter into a greased and lightly floured bundt pan.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Whip your cream cheese until smooth.
• Add in your butter and powdered sugar and continue to mix until frosting is completely blended.
• Add in your milk 1 TBS at a time, until frosting is thin enough to lightly drape over the top of the cake and down the sides.
• Cover cake in cream cheese frosting as desired.
• Slice and serve.

Notes

Store leftovers in the fridge, covered for up to 4 to 5 days

Made this recipe?Tag me and share! Mention @LMLDFood or tag #LMLDFood!

You can get a $1.00 off coupon for any Bob’s Red Mill product here, so now’s your chance to get your favorite Gluten Free Baking Flour and whip up this tasty cake.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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